Sorting equipment of the type intended for sorting and separating particles of a material (also sometimes referred to as a “shaker table”) usually include a stand, a frame movably suspended on the stand, an inclined elongated screen of usually approximately four to eight feet mounted on the frame, and one or more motors mounted on the frame for vibrating the frame and attached screen. The screen has a number of apertures of selected size (such as ½ inch).
A material is deposited on the upper end of the inclined vibrating screen. As the material is advanced down the screen by the vibratory motion thereof, smaller particles having diameters less than the size of the screen apertures fall through the screen while larger particles having diameters greater than screen apertures pass along the length of the screen.
Such equipment finds broad application in a number of industrial areas. For example, an aggregate of granulated cement material can be processed so that smaller, useful particles are passed on for subsequent use and larger “clumps” (formed from the undesired addition of water to the aggregate) are discarded.
Although such sorting systems perform their intended functions well, it has become apparent in many applications that a single screen is inefficient and as well as poorly suited to situations with clearance or topography restrictions.
Thus, there is a need for improvements in the art directed to the sorting of particles of a material that overcomes these and other limitations of the prior art.